Jose Contreras
Jose Contreras
José Ariel Contreras Camejois a Cuban professional baseball pitcher for the Tigres de Quintana Roo of the Mexican Baseball League. He has played in the Cuban National Series, Major League Baseball, and internationally for the Cuban national baseball team...
clean cuba difficult followers hard invited leave lives places players relatives revolution stay taken uncle worry
The invited are young players who are followers of the revolution and have a clean background. If you have relatives who live in other places in the world, it will be really difficult to be taken out of Cuba on that team. For example, if you have an uncle who lives in Miami, it's going to be real hard for you to leave the country. They worry that you will stay there.
correct cuba fastball helped roger taught thank throwing time wrong
I have to thank Roger very much because in Cuba I was throwing a two-seam fastball and he taught me how to throw a four-seam fastball. Every time I did something wrong with my mechanics, he helped he correct my errors.
cuba abundance shortage
It's amazing how everything here seems like it's in abundance. In Cuba, there is a shortage of everything.
cuban
I'm Cuban and I always will be.
against baseball best competition cuba double explaining government played players playing pressure top watching
If Cuba wins, it is expected. If they lose, there will be a lot of explaining because baseball is the top sport and if you don't win, it's a problem. The pressure is going to be double for Cuba. You have the government watching and you are playing against the best players in the world. This will be the best competition Cuba has ever played against.
bit good knew work
It was a little bit of a motivation, but I never let it get to me, ... I knew if I work hard, good things will happen.
looked
The way he pitched looked so perfect, you wanted to try to do the same,
downs expected face glad half hope season side though ups
Even though the first half of the season didn't go as I wished, as everyone expected me to be, you just got to face that you have ups and downs and I'm glad that it's on an up side right now, ... I hope I can keep it going.
believe game ready spring
Believe it or not, you get ready for this game from Day 1 in spring training,
both fair focus glad rid rumors season trade
I wanted to get it done before the season started so I could focus on the season and get rid of any trade rumors that would come. We've been working on it all spring, and I'm glad it got done before the season started. It was fair for both parties.
beginning decent helping pitching team wins
At the beginning of the year, I was pitching pretty decent but I wasn't getting the wins. Now, I'm getting the wins and helping the team win games.
few happens next obviously trainer treatment worried
The trainer said not to worry, but obviously I'm worried a little bit. I'm going to get treatment and see what happens the next few days.
ball early effective game good kept last mind pitch rain ready slider
I was ready to pitch my game once we started. The rain was the last thing on my mind. I had a good fastball, kept the ball down in the zone, and my slider was effective early in the game.
language speak talk
We get to talk because we speak the same language,